The Rake's History
by Kristin Rasmussen
On May 2, 1947, Igor Stravinsky stumbled upon A Rake’s Progress, a series of works by 18th-century English humorist and painter William Hogarth. The pictures captivated Stravinsky, who saw them as a series of scenes from a drama and chose them as the inspiration for the English-language opera he had been aspiring to. The eight-painting series, titled A Rake's Progress, illustrates the demise of Tom Rakewell, a notorious "rake" who had become accustomed to immoral behavior and irresponsible financial habits.
Picture 1 - The Heir
Tom Rakewell’s journey begins in the first painting, The Heir. After the death of his stingy father, Tom has unexpectedly become very wealthy and has immediately gone to a suit fitting to flaunt his newfound fortune. Tom is accompanied by a lawyer who is seen stealing from Tom’s coin bag for himself while Tom is distracted. On the left side stands the distraught and pregnant Sarah Young (Anne Trulove in Stravinsky’s adaptation). Despite having had a common-law marriage, he now rejects her. The diary in the bottom right corner of the picture reveals that Tom’s father was more concerned with Tom’s education than with his moral character.
Picture 2 - The Levée
In the second painting, The Levée, Tom is at his new London home for his morning levée, a formal welcome for guests or visitors. Several hangers-on can be seen in the background, and Tom is surrounded by musicians, a fencing instructor, a music instructor, a dancing instructor, a landscape gardener, his jockey with a silver trophy, and a bodyguard. A painting behind the scene shows the Judgement of Paris, the Greek myth that sparks the Trojan War and serves as a foreshadowing of Tom's eventual fate.
Picture 3 - The Orgy
The third painting, The Orgy, depicts a raucous party, or orgy, taking place at a brothel. Tom Rakewell, disheveled and apparently inebriated, sits on the right while one of the sex workers embraces him to grab his watch. Tom's box of mercury pills for treating syphilis is on the floor, and several of the sex workers have the disease, as evidenced by the black lesions on their faces. Two of the sex workers are fighting, and the dancer undressing next to Tom Rakewell prepares for her show.
Picture 4 - The Arrest
The fourth painting, The Arrest, portrays Tom narrowly escaping arrest for debt while on his way to court to celebrate Queen Caroline's birthday. He is saved by the ever-faithful Sarah Young, who pays the bill. In a comedic moment, someone replenishing a streetlight pours oil over Tom's head. An allusion to how blessings were followed by oil being poured on the head; in this instance, Sarah's "saving" of Tom serves as the "blessing," but Rakewell, being a rake, would not heed the moral lesson.
Picture 5 - The Marriage
In the fifth painting, The Marriage, Tom marries a wealthy elderly woman in an attempt to recapture his fortune and prestige. While at the altar, Tom eyes his new wife's younger and prettier maid. Sarah Young, Tom's devoted ex-lover, is also featured, standing in the background and clutching their child as her mother frantically tries to enter to break up the marriage.
Picture 6 - The Gaming House
In the sixth painting, The Gaming House, a distraught Tom is squandering his recently acquired fortune in a gambling house. He lifts his fist in the air while on one knee in a fit of wrath and sorrow. His wig falls to the ground, revealing his shaven head, and his now-empty purse is visible next to him. A fire is raging behind them, but neither he nor the other gamblers appear to have noticed it.
Picture 7 - The Prison
By the seventh painting, The Prison, all is lost, and Tom is imprisoned in debtors' jail. He disregards the anguish of his faithful Sarah, who has fainted, as well as his irate new wife. Tom is asked for money by the jailer and the beer-boy. Both an alchemy experiment in the background and a telescope for celestial observation peeking out of the barred window hint that Tom has gone mad while incarcerated. A play that he had planned to sell to pay off his debt lies abandoned next to a letter of rejection.
Picture 8 - The Madhouse
Lastly, in the eighth painting, The Madhouse, the now violent and insane Tom is in his last days at Bedlam, an infamous mental hospital in London. Sarah is the only person there to comfort him, yet Tom still dismisses her. The well-dressed women in the background represent curious tourists who pay to watch the patients. At the time, asylums and the insane were popular tourist destinations.